Day 8 Part 5 Floating in the Dead Sea.

We once again are on the road heading north.  From what I can see there isn't a lot of Dead Sea left to drive by and I wonder if we will get our chance to take a dip.  I don't see any of the little resorts that have been all along the way.  Just when it looks like we will take the road that heads away from the Dead Sea, there is one more turn off to the east and we take it.  The four buses of our tour snake their way down to what turns out to be a very large parking lot with lots of cars.  There are old looking buildings near the parking lot that have a sort of military feel to them, they also appear to be abandoned or at least not in current use.  This spot seems to have some kind of history.

We debus and head to the resort with our little bundles of towels and trunks and wearing our water shoes.  We pass through some gates and discover this is a very popular place!  Lots of people, a restaurant and lots and lots of picnic tables that all have their own little grill.  Smoke is thick and the smell of savory roasting meat is amazing!  I am instantly starving as the unremarkable lunch I just had is a distant memory.  

The place looks to be full of Arab and or Palestinian people.  The men are all dark skinned, bare chested, in Speedos while most of the women are dressed head to toe in headscarves and long dresses.  I wonder if they see the irony. It is my brilliant deduction that most of these people must be Muslim.  

It is a little confusing to find out where to change clothes and where to put your stuff. There are crowds of people of many nationalities coming and going, almost crazy with all the traffic.  As usual, the demarcation between men's and women's changing areas is not clear and men wander into the women's area on a regular basis.  Whoever runs this place should read "User Friendly Churches" by George Barna so they could improve their signage and visitors can at least know where the men's and women's areas are.  No helpful person is there to ask where to change clothes so I observe for a moment and follow a man into an open air locker area.  Again, the architects do not use angles and corners to provide ample room for modesty from the continuous stream of humanity only feet away from where I am planning on baring my pasty whiteness in just a moment.  

I do the deed as fast and effeiciently as I can and don my trunks and t-shirt quickly.  Now I wait for Indiana Jolie while holding my towel and rolled up clothes.  She emerges soon enough and we head to the water.  She had a similar experience with getting changed with men heading into the women's locker area on a regular basis.  We figure we will never see any of these people ever again so, C'est la vie!  Ha ha!  We snake our way through the outdoor eating area of the restaurant (again, no signage pointing the way).  We find the stairs (lots of stairs) that switchback down the steep bank to the "beach".  Because of the steep terrain of this spot, the water is not very far away. You can easily tell the water level is far below where it once was, but because of the steepness, it remains close.  

We are a little nervous as we approach the water.  A friend offers to hold our stuff while we go for a float.  People are literally rolling in the mud which is very black and slick and sticky.  

We hear this is supposed to do amazing and wonderful things for your skin.  Women with headscarves and long dresses also frolic in the mud and water.  It looks really awkward to be so clothed and wet and muddy.  

With some excitement I head to the water first while Indiana Jolie talks with our friends.  I wade in surprised by how cold the water feels.  The air temperature is 86 degrees at this spot.  I don't know if the water is actually "cold" or if it is just the difference between the air and water temperature.  I was expecting that the water of the Dead Sea would be warm.  The water near the shore is black with the mud.  The bottom is very uneven, muddy and sticky.  It would be easy to lose your water shoes.  Once the water is up to my waist the bottom is smooth and walking is easier.  They tell us that once you are waist deep to just sit down like you would in a chair and the water will float you.  It worked exactly that way.  

It was weird floating effortlessly, kind of what I imagine floating in space would be like.  Since I am a bigger person I am surprised that the water floats me as easily as a smaller person.  Out in the deeper water the water is crystal clear and the bottom can be seen easily about 10 feet below us.  

Indian Jolie joins me and we float around for some time together and visit with our friends.  I have my waterproof digital camera with me and I take pictures as we float in the Dead Sea.  It is refreshing and fun.

We are very near the north shore of the Dead Sea and the receding waterline is obvious against the exposed lake bed.  I look below me and think if the Dead Sea loses another 10 feet of water again this year that where I am floating will be shoreline in a year.  Hard to imagine.  

I wonder if anyone could drown in the Dead Sea.  It is probably a rare occurrence.  If a person towed a water bottle and a floating picnic basket you could probably swim clear across the lake without a lot of effort.  Kind of like paddling a canoe without a canoe.  

Well, our time is up and we need to get changed.  As we near the shore Indiana Jolie wants to try the mud.  

I help her smear it on any exposed skin and we kind of wade around waiting for its magical powers to have their effect.  We rinse it off and sure enough she is smooth and silky!  We wonder if we could carry a blob of mud with us in our stuff.  Probably not a good idea.

We climb up the switchbacking stairs up to the top level to now find a shower to rinse the brine and mud off of ourselves.  The men's shower is right off the main path where all of humanity is streaming by in an unending line.  All that exists as a modesty screen between the inside of the men's shower and the unending stream of humanity is a ridiculously small sheet which slides back and forth on a curtain rod in the entrance.  Even fully deployed, it does not fully cover the entrance.  Every person who enters slides it to one side and walks in leaving the entrance uncovered for all of the streaming humanity to see inside.  For this reason I think, the only open showers are the ones closest to the entrance.  I enter, close the curtain behind me which is instantly swished aside by the next person.  The room is not well lit and despite the bright sunlight outside, the further you venture into the shower room the darker it gets.  

I face a dilemma, go deeper into the shower room for more "privacy" with tight, crowded quarters with many naked strangers or take my chances with the flimsy curtain near the entrance?   I opt to take my chances.  I carefully close the curtain.  I am about to remove my trunks when the curtain swishes open for all of humanity to see.  This is repeated a few times.  I am wondering if I will ever get a shower.  It finally occurs to me to disrobe in the privacy of the shower itself where I control the curtain.  Duh.  The fresh water feels great and I wash the briny residue and mud off of myself.  

After I turn off the water, I discover I have sabotaged myself.  My towel hangs across the way from the shower and the flimsy curtain once again hangs wide open to the world.  I stealthily stay just out of sight until I can reach the curtain which hangs on the far side of the opening.  I am grateful for my long reach and I secure the opening (I use the word "secure" loosely).  I quickly grab my towel and bury my face in it and begin to dry my hair.  I momentarily forget about the curtain.  With sudden thought I turn and see that some thoughtful person who was coming or going has left the entrance wide open and my pasty whiteness is bumming out all nations and tribes and tongues and genders and age groups as they stream endlessly past the entrance just two feet away.  I jump into the shower wondering how many got a free show.  I dress in the shower stall muttering to myself about the dismal state of intelligence and courtesy in the world.  Fully clothed I leave the shower room and push the flimsy curtain all the way to the far side as everyone obviously prefers it this way.

I wander a bit waiting for Indiana Jolie to appear.  The picnic area is full of families, little children wander about, beautiful with their dark skin, black hair and white teeth.  I feel a bit conspicuous and out of place, but smile and nod at everyone around me.  The smoke is thick and the aroma of whatever meat they are roasting is tantalizing.  No one invites me to dinner.  There are no rocks here so I don't even think of taking pictures. 

I catch up with friends and we visit while our wives arrive.  I share my experience in the shower room with everyone who then laugh at my expense.  C'est la vie!  Ha ha!  We head over to the buses to start our journey back to Jerusalem after one more stop.  Something about a balcony....